Week 5 hands Jahdae Barron a clean opening to show Denver why it spent a first-round pick on him.
The Broncos are likely to be down both Patrick Surtain II and Riley Moss after the pair picked up rib and ankle injuries in Week 4, leaving Denver to lean on its cornerback depth against a stretched secondary. Brandon Jones and Talanoa Hufanga may be the best safety duo in the NFL, and Ja'Quan McMillian remains one of the league’s better slot corners. Even so, the spotlight now shifts to Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine, who are expected to step in if Surtain and Moss can’t go.
Barron is the bigger storyline. The former first-round pick has yet to make much noise in his second NFL season, and some have already labeled him a bust. But with a bigger role suddenly in front of him, he has a real chance to start changing that conversation.
Last season, Barron started five games and logged one interception, five defended passes and 35 total tackles. According to Pro Football Reference, he allowed a 98.8 passer rating in coverage across 334 defensive snaps, which worked out to 30 percent of Denver’s total defensive snaps.
This year, he has played in all four games, been on the field for 70 snaps and allowed a 99.2 passer rating in coverage. That’s 25 percent of the season total so far.
The simplest explanation for the limited workload is the group ahead of him. Surtain and Moss have been one of the NFL’s top cornerback tandems, Surtain already looks like one of the best corners of his era, and McMillian followed a career year in 2025 with a significant raise for 2026.
That leaves Barron in a tricky spot. He might be the kind of talented player who simply hasn’t had enough openings to play. But if he’s as good as his first-round status suggests, the question is obvious: shouldn’t the snaps have come sooner?
However you view his early NFL career, Week 5 is exactly the kind of stage Barron needs. Denver needs help at corner, and this looks like a real chance for him to show the front office and the doubters that he can be more than depth.
The Broncos didn’t draft Barron for him to have a career as a backup.
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Broncos Face Two Chargers Problems That Could Wreck This Matchup
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The other pressure point is on the back end, where Denvers cornerback picture has been thinned by injuries at a bad time. With the Chargers bringing a receiver group that can test depth and communication, the Broncos may have to lean on some less familiar names in coverage and hope the matchup does not force them into constant repair mode. [Read more 🡒]